Successful firing of BRAHMOS air launched missile from Su-30 MKI aircraft :-Today, IAF successfully fired the BRAHMOS air version missile from its frontline Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft. The launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory before directly hitting the land target. The air launched BRAHMOS missile is a 2.5-ton supersonic air to surface cruise missile with ranges of close to 300 km, designed and developed by BAPL (BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited)....

Jupiter's largest moon definitely has an ocean: NASA

MIAMI (AFP): Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, definitely has an underground ocean, researchers said after confirming the moon's long-suspected subsurface saltwater body with the help of auroras glimpsed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The ocean is believed to hold more water than is found on Earth's surface, which broadens the hunt for places in the solar system where life might be able to exist, the US space agency said.

Ganymede, the largest moon in the entire solar system, is larger than the planet Mercury.

The Galileo spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in 1995, has already detected a possible magnetic field on Ganymede.

The Hubble Space Telescope has now confirmed that discovery, by establishing the existence of an ocean of water under its crust by observing changes in the aurorae around the celestial body.

These "ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas" can be seen in regions around the north and south poles of the moon, NASA said in a statement on Thursday.

Because aurorae are controlled by a moon or a planet's magnetic field, observing changes in the aurorae can lead to better understanding of what exists inside.

Researchers found that Jupiter's own magnetic field interacts with Ganymede's, causing a rocking motion in the aurorae that is reduced by magnetic friction from the presence of Ganymede's underground ocean.

"Since the 1970s, there were speculations and models that Ganymede could possess an ocean," said Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany.

"We do not have these ambiguities anymore," he told reporters.

The latest findings from Hubble "provide the best evidence to date for the existence of an ocean on Ganymede."

Heidi Hammel, executive vice president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, said the approach showed that a space telescope could be "a powerful tool" to make inferences about the interior of a moon.

Jupiter's moon Callisto is believed to have subterranean water as well.

"Every mission that we send to various places in the solar system is just taking us one step further to finding that truly habitable environment -- a water-rich environment in our solar system."

Now, much more can be learned about the conditions on Ganymede when a European Space Agency mission, called Jupiter's Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launches in 2022 and arrives at Jupiter in 2030, she added.

The navies of India and Singapore conducted their bilateral naval drill in the South China Sea on Sunday. Indian Navy ships Kolkata and Shakti took part in the bilateral naval exercise with Singapore, along with long range maritime patrol aircraft Poseidon-8I (P8I). The bilateral naval drill will be conducted till May 22.

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